DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A gaming company uses Amazon DynamoDB to store player scores. The table has a partition key of 'game_id' and a sort key of 'player_id'. They notice that during peak hours, write requests for a popular game 'g123' are throttled, while other games are unaffected. What is the most likely cause and solution?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse total table capacity with per-partition capacity, assuming increasing WCU or enabling auto-scaling will fix a hot partition, when the real solution is to redesign the partition key to avoid skew.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a composite partition key with a random suffix to distribute writes.
The throttling is caused by a hot partition: all writes for the popular game 'g123' target the same partition key, exceeding the 1,000 WCU per partition limit. Adding a random suffix to the partition key (e.g., 'g123-1', 'g123-2') distributes writes across multiple partitions, eliminating the bottleneck without changing the access pattern.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache writes.
Why it's wrong here
DAX caches reads, not writes.
- ✗
The write capacity is too low; increase the table's write capacity units.
Why it's wrong here
The issue is a hot partition, not overall capacity.
- ✓
Use a composite partition key with a random suffix to distribute writes.
Why this is correct
Write sharding spreads writes across partitions, avoiding a hot key.
- ✗
Enable auto-scaling on the table to handle burst write traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Auto-scaling may not react fast enough and doesn't fix partition imbalance.
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This DBS-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DBS-C01 exam.